Image forming apparatus and method of activating a program

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: hardware resources used in image forming processing; a program for executing image forming processing; a recording medium on which programs are recorded; a program selection part that presents one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to a user, and causes the user to select a program that the user desires to activate from the presented programs; and a program activation part that reads out the selected program from the recording medium and activates the selected program.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An image forming apparatus comprising: 
 hardware resources used in image forming processing;    a program for executing image forming processing;    a recording medium on which programs are recorded;    a program selection part that presents one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to a user, and causes the user to select a program that the user desires to activate from the presented programs; and    a program activation part that reads out the selected program from the recording medium and activates the selected program.    
     
     
         2 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said program selection part, at a time of activating the image forming apparatus, presents the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to the user, and causes the user to select the program that the user desires to activate from the presented programs.  
     
     
         3 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein said program selection part, after receiving a notification that the recording medium has been normally activated, presents the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to the user, and causes the user to select the program that the user desires to activate from the presented programs  
     
     
         4 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the recording medium is a hard disk drive.  
     
     
         5 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said program selection part, at a request of the user, presents the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to the user, and causes the user to select the program that the user desires to activate from the presented programs.  
     
     
         6 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said program selection part, at a time of detecting insertion of the recording medium, presents the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to the user, and causes the user to select the program that the user desires to activate from the presented programs.  
     
     
         7 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said program selection part displays the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium on an operation panel, and causes the user to select the program that the user desires to activate from the displayed programs through the operation panel.  
     
     
         8 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein said program selection part displays the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium and one or more dependency relationships of the one or more of the programs on the operation panel.  
     
     
         9 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein said program selection part causes the user to select, on the operation panel, the program that the user desires to activate in a group of one or more programs having equal dependency relationships.  
     
     
         10 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein said program selection part, when the program that the user desires to activate is selected on the operation panel, additionally selects a program having a dependency relationship with the selected program.  
     
     
         11 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising an operation selection part that searches for a configuration file relating to program activation, and determines whether to perform the operation of said program selection part based on a result of the search for the configuration file.  
     
     
         12 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein said program selection part changes the configuration file according to the program selected from the presented programs by the user.  
     
     
         13 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein said program activation part reads out the selected program from the recording medium and activates the selected program in accordance with the configuration file.  
     
     
         14 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 13 , wherein said operation selection part determines to perform the operation of said program selection part when the searched-out configuration file is an option configuration file, and determines not to perform the operation of said program selection part when the searched-out configuration file is a normal configuration file.  
     
     
         15 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the option configuration file and the normal configuration file are distinguished by at least one of a directory name, a file name, and an extension.  
     
     
         16 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said program selection part determines whether to perform the operation thereof based on a request of the user.  
     
     
         17 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein said program selection part, after receiving a notification that insertion of the recording medium is detected, presents the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to the user, and causes the user to select the program that the user desires to activate from the presented programs.  
     
     
         18 . The image forming apparatus as claimed in  claim 17 , wherein the recording medium is hot-pluggable.  
     
     
         19 . A program activation method for an image forming apparatus including hardware resources used in image forming processing, a program for executing image forming processing, and a recording medium on which programs are recorded, the program activation method comprising the steps of: 
 (a) presenting one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium to a user, and causing the user to select a program that the user desires to activate from the recorded programs; and    (b) reading the selected program from the recording medium, and activating the selected program.    
     
     
         20 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein said step (a) is performed at a time of activating the image forming apparatus.  
     
     
         21 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein said step (a) is performed after receiving a notification that the recording medium has been normally activated.  
     
     
         22 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 21 , wherein the recording medium is a hard drive unit.  
     
     
         23 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein said step (a) is performed at a request of the user.  
     
     
         24 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein said step (a) is performed at a time of detecting insertion of the recording medium.  
     
     
         25 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein said step (a) displays the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium on an operation panel, and causes the user to select the program that the user desires to activate from the displayed programs through the operation panel.  
     
     
         26 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 25 , wherein said step (a) displays the one or more of the programs recorded on the recording medium and one or more dependency relationships of the one or more of the programs on the operation panel.  
     
     
         27 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein said step (a) causes the user to select, on the operation panel, the program that the user desires to activate in a group of one or more programs having equal dependency relationships.  
     
     
         28 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 25 , wherein said step (a), when the program that the user desires to activate is selected on the operation panel, additionally selects a program having a dependency relationship with the selected program.  
     
     
         29 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 19 , further comprising the step of (c) searching for a configuration file relating to program activation, and determining whether to perform said step (a) based on a result of the search for the configuration file.  
     
     
         30 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 29 , wherein said step (a) changes the configuration file according to the program selected from the presented programs by the user.  
     
     
         31 . The program activation method as claimed in  30 , wherein said step (b) reads out the selected program from the recording medium and activates the selected program in accordance with the configuration file.  
     
     
         32 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 31 , wherein said step (c) determines to perform said step (a) when the searched-out configuration file is an option configuration file, and determines not to perform said step (a) when the searched-out configuration file is a normal configuration file.  
     
     
         33 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 32 , wherein the option configuration file and the normal configuration file are distinguished by at least one of a directory name, a file name, and an extension.  
     
     
         34 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein it is determined based on a request of the user whether to perform said step (a).  
     
     
         35 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein said step (a) is performed after receiving a notification that insertion of the recording medium is detected.  
     
     
         36 . The program activation method as claimed in  claim 35 , wherein the recording medium is hot-pluggable.